Re: Francophobia

: : : :
Can someone please tell me the origin of the term 'brass monkey'.

: : : : A
'brass monkey' is the term for the base for stacking cannon balls in pyramid shaped
stacks onboard old sailing war ships. The base (brass monkey) was made of brass
with indentations the size of the cannon balls. It prevented the cannon balls
from rolling around when stacked.

: : : And similarly, is it connected with
the young boys in charge of fetching the gunpowder being called "powder monkeys"?

:
: From the archives:

: : Monkey: It's cold enough to freeze the balls from a
brass monkey is an expression with slightly genital overtones used to describe
very cold weather. The truth is quite different.
: : In the old wooden Men-of-War
the powder was taken from the powder magazine to the gun decks by young boys.
These boys were frequently orphans or waifs taken off the streets. The passages
and stairs along which they carried the powder were so narrow that only boys,
and not men, could get through. They were known as "powder monkeys"; the cannon
balls were stored in brass rings near the guns themselves. By analogy these rings
were called "brass monkeys". On cold days they would contract with the result
that the cannon balls would be squeezed out of the ring - hence the saying.

:
Maybe "monkey" was first used to describe a young person because children are
like miniature imitations of adults. Perhaps the term was later applied to the
animal for the same reason, or possibly because the clear distinction between
animals and humans is relatively new historically. (Actually I think there is
a famous story of confused Brits in the in the 17th century, who hanged a wayward
ape they thought was a French Sailor.)

: So Bruce's explanation makes sense.

I'm
quite sure we Brits hanged the ape with righteous ire. Throughout most of our
history we've felt it a divine duty to tilt at anything that even vaguely smacks
of the Gallic and frankly, I find that strangely comforting.